Ammunition marking is an important tool for tracking of ammunition as well as for controlling the use of it. Further, it can be used for quality assurance and for ensuring proper use of ammunition by clearly identifying the sort of ammunition, in particular its type and caliber. In connection with the use of ammunition by military and law enforcement forces, marking of ammunition is important for stock pile management, transportation and record keeping. Particularly in the civil sector, marking ammunition potentially helps investigating crimes in which firearms are involved.
It is common that marks in the form of a stamp are applied to the bottom of a cartridge, also called round, of ammunition. However, due to the limited space available on the bottom of a cartridge, the amount of information which can be applied to the cartridge via such a marking is also very limited. There are techniques of applying a mark also to the lateral outer surface of a cartridge case. Marking the lateral outer surface of a cartridge case is, today, achieved by use of printing techniques. The usual technique of stamping, as it is applied to the bottom of the case of the cartridge, is much less suitable for application to the case of a cartridge since this would easily damage the case in its lateral or radial direction. Thus, press stamping is not used for marking the lateral surface of the case.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 7,823,495 B2 to use laser engraving techniques for engraving the surface of a cartridge, in particular an extractor groove which is typically placed in the area near the bottom of the case. A particular drawback of this method is that the equipment needed for laser engraving is very complex and, thus, expensive which is a decisive disadvantage for any manufacturer who wants to use the laser engraving method for marking cartridges of ammunition.
Other known techniques, namely press stamping and silk screen or similar printing techniques, have other disadvantages. As to the press stamping, in addition to the fact that this method cannot be applied to the lateral surface of a case of a cartridge, the costs for producing press stamping dies are also significant, similar to the laser engraving equipment. As to the printing techniques, the marks provided by these techniques tend to lose their readability after the cartridge has been fired and can easily be counterfeited.
Accordingly, there is a need for a less expensive method for marking ammunition which is capable of applying marks also to the lateral surface of an ammunition cartridge case so as to increase the maximum amount of information provided by the mark.